U.S. patent application number 10/744200 was filed with the patent office on 2005-06-23 for content provisioning for mobile devices using proximity awareness to a computer.
Invention is credited to Danneels, Gunner D., Jelinek, Lenka M., Kumar, Muthu K..
Application Number | 20050138138 10/744200 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 34678780 |
Filed Date | 2005-06-23 |
United States Patent
Application |
20050138138 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Jelinek, Lenka M. ; et
al. |
June 23, 2005 |
Content provisioning for mobile devices using proximity awareness
to a computer
Abstract
In some embodiments, content is cached on behalf of a mobile
device. The cached content is downloaded to the mobile device.
Other embodiments are described and claimed.
Inventors: |
Jelinek, Lenka M.;
(Portland, OR) ; Kumar, Muthu K.; (Hillsboro,
OR) ; Danneels, Gunner D.; (Bearverton, OR) |
Correspondence
Address: |
BLAKELY SOKOLOFF TAYLOR & ZAFMAN
12400 WILSHIRE BOULEVARD
SEVENTH FLOOR
LOS ANGELES
CA
90025-1030
US
|
Family ID: |
34678780 |
Appl. No.: |
10/744200 |
Filed: |
December 22, 2003 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
709/217 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L 67/34 20130101;
H04L 67/289 20130101; H04L 69/329 20130101; H04W 4/00 20130101;
H04L 29/06 20130101; H04L 67/18 20130101; H04L 67/2861 20130101;
H04L 67/2847 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
709/217 |
International
Class: |
G06F 015/16 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method comprising: caching content on behalf of a mobile
device; and downloading the cached content to the mobile
device.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the caching
preemptively caches the content on behalf of the mobile device.
3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the content includes at
least one of an improvement, a patch, a security patch, an upgrade,
a software upgrade, an update and an operating system update.
4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising a detecting
of a proximity of the mobile device, wherein the downloading is in
response to the detecting.
5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the mobile device is a
cell phone.
6. An article comprising: a computer readable medium having
instructions thereon which when executed cause a computer to: cache
content on behalf of a mobile device; and download the cached
content to the mobile device.
7. The article according to claim 6, wherein the caching
preemptively caches the content on behalf of the mobile device.
8. The article according to claim 6, wherein the content includes
at least one of an improvement, a patch, a security patch, an
upgrade, a software upgrade, an update and an operating system
update.
9. The article according to claim 6, the computer readable medium
further having instructions thereon which when executed cause a
computer to detect a proximity of the mobile device, and to
download the cached content to the mobile device in response to the
detected proximity.
10. An apparatus comprising: a caching unit to cache content on
behalf of a mobile device; and a downloading unit to download the
cached content to the mobile device.
11. The apparatus according to claim 10, the caching unit to
preemptively cache the content on behalf of the mobile device.
12. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the content
includes at least one of an improvement, a patch, a security patch,
an upgrade, a software upgrade, an update and an operating system
update.
13. The apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising a
detecting unit to detect a proximity of the mobile device, wherein
the downloading unit is to download the cached content in response
to the detecting unit.
14. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the mobile device
is a cell phone.
15. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the apparatus is
included in a computer.
16. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the apparatus
receives the content over a network.
17. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the apparatus
receives the content over a high bandwidth connection.
18. A system comprising: a network; a mobile device; a computer
coupled to the network, the computer including: a caching unit to
cache content received from the network on behalf of the mobile
device; and a downloading unit to download the cached content to
the mobile device.
19. The system according to claim 18, the caching unit to
preemptively cache the content on behalf of the mobile device.
20. The system according to claim 18, wherein the content includes
at least one of an improvement, a patch, a security patch, an
upgrade, a software upgrade, an update and an operating system
update.
21. The system according to claim 18, the computer further
including a detecting unit to detect a proximity of the mobile
device, wherein the downloading unit is to download the cached
content in response to the detecting unit.
22. The system according to claim 18, wherein the mobile device is
a cell phone.
23. The system according to claim 18, wherein the apparatus is
included in a computer.
24. The system according to claim 18, wherein the network is a
corporate network.
25. The system according to claim 18, wherein the content is
Information Technology content.
26. The system according to claim 18, wherein the network is a
personal environment network.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The inventions generally relate to content provisioning for
mobile devices using proximity awareness to a computer.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Today's computing enterprise infrastructure is increasingly
influenced and controlled by the Information Technology (IT)
department. Managing computers within a corporation has become more
and more challenging. Keeping these computing corporate assets "up
to date" with the latest security patches, improvements and OS
(operating system) updates is no longer a trivial task. Corporate
Information Technology (IT) departments typically push update
content to corporate computers connected to the corporate network
for maintenance purposes of the corporate computers (for example, a
corporate automated patch).
[0003] Unlike most desktop computers and many laptop computers,
handheld mobile devices are not generally tethered to other
computers, servers or the corporate network. Handheld mobile
devices such as cell phones tend to come and go in and out of the
network range (including wireless networks in a home of the user or
a corporation where the user is an employee). Since they are highly
portable, handheld mobile devices may not have access to a
high-bandwidth data pipe very often or at extended intervals. This
is particularly true in cases, for example, of a cell phone of an
employee being connected to a corporate network, where that
employee is not in the corporate offices very often (for example, a
sales person that is on the road most of the time).
[0004] Cell phone providers have previously pushed update
information to cell phones via the GSM/GPRS cellular network.
However, that data pipe is small, which limits downloads to being
very small in size. Additionally, the download content is typically
limited to what the network operator (or maybe the device operator)
wants to update. Further, it does not send down content to the cell
phone that is relevant to a particular corporation (for example, it
does not send a corporate network patch to a cell phone whose user
is an employee of the corporation sending the corporate network
patch).
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0005] The inventions will be understood more fully from the
detailed description given below and from the accompanying drawings
of some embodiments of the inventions which, however, should not be
taken to limit the inventions to the specific embodiments
described, but are for explanation and understanding only.
[0006] FIG. 1 is a block diagram representation illustrating a
system according to some embodiments of the inventions.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0007] Some embodiments of the inventions relate to content
provisioning for mobile devices using proximity awareness to a
computer.
[0008] In some embodiments, content is cached on behalf of a mobile
device, and the cached content is downloaded to the mobile device.
In some embodiments, the caching and the downloading are performed
by a computer. In some embodiments the caching and the downloaded
are performed by software. In some embodiments the caching and the
downloaded are performed by hardware.
[0009] In some embodiments an apparatus includes a caching unit to
cache content on behalf of a mobile device, and a downloading unit
to download the cached content to the mobile device.
[0010] In some embodiments, a system includes a network, a mobile
device, and a computer coupled to the network. The computer
includes a caching unit to cache content received from the network
on behalf of the mobile device, and a downloading unit to download
the cached content to the mobile device.
[0011] FIG. 1 illustrates a system 100 according to some
embodiments. System 100 includes a network 102, a computer 104 and
a mobile handheld device 106. In some embodiments network 102 is an
Information Technology (IT) network (for example, a corporate IT
department network). In some embodiments network 102 is a personal
network (for example, in a home of a user of the computer 104
and/or the mobile handheld device 106). In some embodiments network
102 is a public network (for example, a WiFi network provided in a
public space, either for a fee or for no fee). In some embodiments
computer 104 is a server, a personal computer (PC), a desktop
computer and/or a laptop computer (either in a corporate network
environment, a personal network environment such as a home and/or
some other environment). In some embodiments mobile handheld device
106 is a cellular phone, a PDA, an MP3 player, a small form factor
device, a form factor laptop, a micro-PC, smart communicator device
(voice and data), mini data storage device (for example USB keys
with some processing abilities), portable electronic device,
portable media player and/or portable video player (for example,
portable DVD player, portable hard drive player, etc.), portable
gaming device, and/or some other type of mobile handheld
device.
[0012] Computer 104 determines and/or knows the characteristics of
the user's mobile device 106. This may be accomplished in one or
more of many different ways. For example, the computer 104 can
sense the type of mobile device 106 (for example, "Nokia 3650 cell
phone") and determine various characteristics of that phone by
receiving them from over the network 102, from the internet and/or
consulting a file within the computer for the information. In some
embodiments a user can input characteristics of the mobile device
106. In some embodiments a user can input the type of the mobile
device 106 (for example, "Nokia cell phone 3650"), and the computer
can determine characteristics of that device in response to the
type of device entered by the user.
[0013] Characteristics of mobile device 106 determined by and/or
stored by computer 104 according to some embodiments could be, for
example:
[0014] Nokia 3650:
[0015] IT patch #23 installed? YES
[0016] Network profile enabled: YES
[0017] User pwd expires in: 28 days
[0018] The computer 104 can cache data on behalf of the mobile
device 106. According to some embodiments computer 104 can cache
patches such as security patches, upgrades such as software
upgrades, updates such as operating system (OS) updates and/or any
other relevant content for the user's mobile device 106. For
example, computer 104 can cache software patches intended for
mobile device 106 that are provided by an IT department over the
network 102. Then, when the mobile device 106 is within the
proximity of the computer 104 (for example, in wireless
communication with the computer) the computer 104 detects the
presence of the mobile device and starts downloading necessary
content to the mobile device using convenient communication
transports (for example, Bluetooth, an IEEE 802.11 connection such
as adhoc 802.11 connection, etc.). In some embodiments the computer
may be in any proximity with the mobile device such that the
communication transport is able to communicate (for example, in
some embodiments in the same building as each other). In some
embodiments any currently known or future communications transports
may be implemented. In accordance with some embodiments any of the
following may be used as communication transports between the
computer and the mobile device: Bluetooth, an IEEE 802.11
connection such as adhoc 802.11 connection, Aura, Zigbee (IEEE
802.15.4), UWB (IEEE 802.15.3) and/or others.
[0019] Using the computer 104 provision content for the mobile
device 106 is advantageous, for example, because a computer
typically has more storage space than a mobile device and likely
much more frequent access to a high bandwidth connection than a
mobile device. Therefore, the computer 104 can manage a user's
handheld devices (for example, on behalf of the IT department).
There are several additional reasons why providing content over a
computer (or other caching device) according to some embodiments is
better than providing content directly to a mobile device. For
example, a connection between a computer (or other caching device)
and the mobile device is faster, cheaper, more secure, consumes
less power and/or is more convenient than getting content directly
from a provider to a mobile device.
[0020] In some embodiments computer 104 preemptively caches all
patches, upgrades, OS updates and any other relevant content for
the mobile device 106. When the mobile device 106 (for example, a
cellular phone) is in a proximity of the computer 104, the computer
104 detects the presence of the mobile device 106 and starts
downloading necessary content to the mobile device 106 over
convenient transports. Although content has been described as
transferring from the computer 104 to the mobile device 106 data
and/or content can also travel back from the mobile device 106 to
the computer 104 according to some embodiments. Additionally,
although some embodiments have been described above in reference to
the computer 104 detecting the presence of the mobile device 106,
in some embodiments the mobile device 106 detects the presence of
the computer 104.
[0021] Although embodiments have been described above as occurring
in the corporate world, other embodiments are not limited to the
corporate world or corporate world IT department use. For example,
system 100 could be implemented in a personal environment of a
user. A user could use the interaction between computer 104 and
mobile device 106 in their personal (for example, home) environment
(for example, using a home computer as computer 104) instead of or
in addition to a corporate network environment. In environments
according to some embodiments such as corporate, public, and
personal environments the proximity between the computer and the
mobile device provides an additional level of trust for the content
provisioning.
[0022] Although some embodiments herein have described computer 104
as a desktop computer such as a desktop PC, a laptop can be used
according to some embodiments. For example, according to some
embodiments a laptop computer 104 caches content for the mobile
device 106 and pushes it to the mobile device 106 when the user is
traveling. In some embodiments computer 104 is a server that caches
content for the mobile device 106. In some embodiments computer 104
is any entity that has the capacity to cache content on behalf of
the mobile device.
[0023] Although some embodiments have been described in reference
to particular implementations such as provisioning of content from
an Information Technology (IT) department of a corporation, other
implementations are possible according to some embodiments. For
example, implementations described herein may be used, for example,
to provide content caching and content provisioning within a
personal network environment of a user (such as a home network of a
user of a handheld mobile device) according to some
embodiments.
[0024] In each system shown in a figure, the elements in some cases
may each have a same reference number or a different reference
number to suggest that the elements represented could be different
and/or similar. However, an element may be flexible enough to have
different implementations and work with some or all of the systems
shown or described herein. The various elements shown in the
figures may be the same or different. Which one is referred to as a
first element and which is called a second element is
arbitrary.
[0025] An embodiment is an implementation or example of the
inventions. Reference in the specification to "an embodiment," "one
embodiment," "some embodiments," or "other embodiments" means that
a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in
connection with the embodiments is included in at least some
embodiments, but not necessarily all embodiments, of the
inventions. The various appearances "an embodiment," "one
embodiment," or "some embodiments" are not necessarily all
referring to the same embodiments.
[0026] If the specification states a component, feature, structure,
or characteristic "may", "might", "can" or "could" be included, for
example, that particular component, feature, structure, or
characteristic is not required to be included. If the specification
or claim refers to "a" or "an" element, that does not mean there is
only one of the element. If the specification or claims refer to
"an additional" element, that does not preclude there being more
than one of the additional element.
[0027] Although flow diagrams and/or state diagrams may have been
used herein to describe embodiments, the inventions are not limited
to those diagrams or to corresponding descriptions herein. For
example, flow need not move through each illustrated box or state,
or in exactly the same order as illustrated and described
herein.
[0028] The inventions are not restricted to the particular details
listed herein. Indeed, those skilled in the art having the benefit
of this disclosure will appreciate that many other variations from
the foregoing description and drawings may be made within the scope
of the present inventions. Accordingly, it is the following claims
including any amendments thereto that define the scope of the
inventions.
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